Loading...

How do I go about licensing my product to an industry leader?

I have an innovative clothing accessory for women that I believe will add flair and style to the way women dress. I have written a business plan however, I do not want to build a company from the ground up to launch my product. Licensing I believe is the way to go; I would love to license my accessory line exclusively with the company Spanx but, I don't know where to start.

There are lots of things that will make or break this... Do you have an intellectual property on your product? Are you sure costumes need/want it?
On the to do list - need to develop marketing material and contact the company you want to license to. Having contacts with the right people/decision makers is very important.
Happy to discuss details of you like.

I've worked with clients to reach out to prospective licensees. My experience has been that getting to the right people within your target companies makes all the difference in the world. It can also be very difficult and time consuming.

A couple of other quick tips are that you'll want to make sure your invention, which I assume your innovative clothing accessory is, is protected to some degree. In your case that might be a design, rather than utility, patent.

Other than that, make your outreach message concise and be sure the value to the prospective licensee is obvious and compelling. Also, be sure to make the job of whomever you are contacting as easy as possible. Do as much for that person as you can, adding as little as possible to that person's existing workload, which is probably already overflowing.

Finally, be politely persistent and expect to have to place many calls and send quite a few emails, before receiving a response.

Hi! I do this for a living, so let me help you. You can and should consider licensing the intellectual property relating to your product to companies like Spanx. You can either consider direct solicitation of Spanx (and related companies) or you can determine if there's a trade show where buyers for those industries are actively looking for new products and technologies.

In either case, the first step is likely to be protecting your IP. This can mean applying for a provisional or nonprovisional patent, trademarking your name and logo either one which is currently in use or on a 1(b) basis which means you intend to use it.

Once you have your IP protected, you have a series of rights and exclusive protections which you can license to others. That way you can safely approach prospective licensees or manufacturers without worrying about them taking your idea and running with it on their own.

I'm not an attorney, but I can help guide you through the overall process, I can direct you to the best trade show for your goals, help you pitch your product and answer any questions you have. Let's chat!